Steampunk Tuesday - Books!

So I skipped a week of blogging due to being generally overwhelmed with work etc, but I'm back baby!

And what a perfect day to come back on, it's Steampunk Tuesday!  Sweet!


In a previous Steampunk Tuesday we did movies, and I thought it only right to do books this time around.  Because books are awesome.  And they also help us define further what Steampunk is. 

(Because I still maintain, though others disagree [which is cool, man, it's cool] that Steampunk has not exploded onto the scene quite yet.  My proof: my need to constantly define what it is.) 

At any rate.

I gots a couple lists for you.  But I gots to be upfront about them.  They aren't created by me.  Instead they are by the amazing Steampunk Scholar (interview with him coming soon): Mike Perschon.

If you ever felt that my attempts to define and dig into Steampunk were ever so slightly superficial, please check out his blog of awesome.  The guy's doing his PhD on the subject:  Steampunk Scholar.

I have mad respect for this guy, and I very much approve of his lists, so it felt a little silly recreating them when I could just give him the credit for them in the first place. 

Now he has a top ten list of his favourite Steampunk books (which I'll be posting at the bottom of this post), but I like it when he divides up the categories - simply for educational purposes.  If you want something more contemporary, or if you are looking for a classic, they are easier to find in this set of lists.


We begin with his Top Ten New Steampunk (2000 - 2009  <------ yes, this means the list is due for an update, but it's still a pretty great list):

 

1. Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
2. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
3. The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist
4. Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
5. Fitzpatrick's War by Theodore Judson
6. Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel
7. Boilerplate by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett
8. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
9. Soulless by Gail Carriger
10. Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters

I feel a need to add the following mention as this book was listed 5th in our Scholar's Top Ten (as well as his Top Five for 2010) list but was published in 2010 - thus after the above list was created.  And that would be Cherie Priest's DREADNOUGHT:

Now we move onto his Top Five Classic Steampunk (1971-1999):

1. The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
2. Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
3. The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives by James Blaylock
4. The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul DiFilippo
5. The List of 7 by Mark Frost

And in case you are curious, here is the Scholar's Top Ten Steampunk Books:

1. Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
2. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld 
3. Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist
4. The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder
5. Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
6. Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
7. Fitzpatrick's War by Theodore Judson
8. Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel
9. Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
10. The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives by James P. Blaylock